DUBLIN

Deplaned and bussed into O'Connell Street: As we walk to our hotel we notice, in contrast to London, Chinese faces on the street including families with small children. The boys later told me that Dublin has more Asians per capita than any other European city, many of whom are students (who work part time ) either learning English or doing tertiary studies Apparently the Malaysian Prime Minister has visited Malaysia students at Aaron’s college.

After checking in, we went to a Burger King and were served by a Chinese girl. Imagine our shock when we realized that ALL but one of the crew, about 15, including one of the supervisors were Chinese. It was just like Hong Kong.

We wandered down Baggot Street (Georgian Doors); through St Stephens Green (avoided the ducks), down Grafton Street (listened to street musicians improvising in the rain) ; into Powerscourt (looked at the Waterford glass): visited Trinity College (just looked); meandered over the Liffy and up to the Post Office; (looked at the 30’s style pictures outlining the 1916 rising and noted the Chinese waiting to make calls home); Looked in vain for the "Floozie in the Jacuzzi" Transpires she has been replaced by "the needle" which some say celebrates Dublin’s status as “Heroin Capital of Europe” What a pity Nelson’s column got blown up !; Turned left, walked towards Moore street/Chapel street and then over “Half Penny Bridge” into Temple bar and back to the hotel. Wonder what the Asians think of the city ??

Before we left I caught a true Irish Breakfast(unfortunately due to an oversight I missed out on the white pudding). English Breakfasts are definitely inferior but in both cases the sausages surpass those of Australia or HK. “Did” the Irish National Museum in Kildare Street: This was a big hit with Becca since it got the point across that Ireland has a totally different cultural identity than the English and it put the 1916 uprising into context. Interestingly she also picked up that Irish Christian heritage is different to rest of Europe .